Villagers working together
BLACK TORRINGTON PARISH PLAN 2017
Prepared by Councillors Snezzy Floyer and Emma Barnes FORWARD
Dear Readers and Parishioners, This is the latest Parish Plan and, as such, it will reflect the work that the Parish Council is doing for its Parish. It will also show what has already been achieved. As there has been a recent state of flux within the Parish Council, it was felt that this is an appropriate time to mention that many of us are new to the council and, as such, we are keen to emphasise that we are, in a sense, starting afresh, not neglecting or forgetting what was completed or planned before, but keen to ensure that we look at everything through new eyes and do our level best for the Parish. We are almost all volunteers, apart from the Secretary, and we are keen to move matters forward for the best possible outcome for our village. We care deeply about our Parish and are aiming for a steady and consistent effort with stability, an emphasis on improvements and an awareness of everyone’s desires and concerns. This being the case, please do not hesitate to contact us through the Clerk, Martin Taylor, or by approaching one of us, should you wish to discuss any pressing matters of concern to you. We will always listen and we will try to respond as best we can, within our remit. We cannot change things overnight, but we intend to actively engage in whichever matters need to be worked on; we also intend to keep you posted as to how we get on.
The Parish Council Committee
PG. 1 Contact Details for Council Clerk Martin Taylor: 01409 281327 [email protected] Goosemoor, Brandis Corner, Holsworthy, EX22 7DY
THE PARISH The Parish of Black Torrington is situated in rural West Devon and lies approximately half way between the market towns of Hatherleigh and Holsworthy. The main village is situated on the south side of the River Torridge, after which it is named, the black referring to the suggested tint of the water. Much of the Parish benefits from outstanding views of the tors and moorland of Dartmoor National Park to the South. The population is approximately 500 residents, with most households concentrated in the village itself, but includes many isolated farms and rural properties. It also includes the hamlet of Chilla and covers a geographical area of over 11 square miles (29 sq. km). The Parish church is dedicated to Saint Mary and is believed to have stood on this site since Norman times. The present building was originally built in the 14th and 15th Centuries and was repaired extensively in the early years of the 20th Century with the chancel also being enlarged. Subsequently, it has recently been re-plastered and other repairs have been ongoing. Its main claim to fame is that it was the final Rectorship of Parson Jack Russell after whom the dog breed is named. A biannual Art exhibition of animal paintings and sculpture is held in the church in recognition of this.
PG. 2 The village also has a Methodist chapel, a doctor’s surgery and dispensary, a well-equipped and spacious village hall, a primary school, a mobile post office which visits twice a week in the village hall, a public house and a large playing field with a children’s play area as well as a multi-use court which was refurbished in the last year. For about 40 years, the Parish also had a rail link, carrying mainly commercial traffic between Great Torrington and Halwill Junction (as well as beyond) and had its own station at Hole. The old track way has been resurfaced and is now a section of the Ruby Way cycle and footpath. There is now only one bus service a week through the Parish and its isolation, for those without transport, especially the elderly is of great concern. Efforts to establish better links are ongoing and, to that effect, there have been efforts to improve matters; proposals have also been made to reinstate the link between Okehampton and London as well. The land within the parish is largely agricultural, with mainly sheep and cattle grazing. Several commercial apple orchards have been re- established on the north side of the River Torridge. The Parish has some wooded areas and is bound on its south-western side by several Forestry Commission plantations. There is no industry as such within the Parish but a few commercial businesses exist, some involved with tourism, as farms have had to diversify. However, in Black Torrington itself we do have a Beauty Therapist, a Swedish and Remedial Massage Therapist, a Hypnotherapist, a Hairdressing and Beauty Therapist, a Bowen Practitioner, a Second-Hand Book Dealer and a Gardening expert so we are doing well, considering the size of our community. Similarly, in the surrounding area, there are other ongoing ventures.
PG. 3 THE PARISH PLAN ITS CONCEPTION
During 2007, the then Parish Council decided it would create a Parish Plan where the concerns, ideas, needs and thoughts of the Parishioners would be formally set out, evaluated and, where possible, implemented. This was hand delivered to each household in the parish during the summer of 2008 and we are now collating the results of the 2016 questionnaire, which was delivered to every household last year. However, returns were a little disappointing as we did not receive as many returns as we had hoped for but we will be letting you know the result of that questionnaire in this document. The plan would be a reference document for Local and County public bodies to use when setting priorities for the community and it could provide a useful guide for local projects to be set up. This was a notable decision and one which we also all ascribe too. Therefore, we ask that everyone in the village plays a part in the construction of the plan, helping us with their thoughts, ideas and requests so that we can best support our community. If we do not know what our Parishioners want, then we cannot do our work as effectively as possible and that is what we all want to do and is why we work on the council. Please do fill in any questionnaires that we send out to you, consult us, write to us, whatever you need to do, to make your desires known and we will do our level best to bring about the best possible outcomes for all of us. If we are all agreed and, within the restrictions rules and regulations that we all must adhere to, we will try to implement the changes that are needed and desired. This document is meant to provide a record of the issues affecting a rural Devon parish in this century for future historical references. We will continue to send out questionnaires, collating and sharing the results with our parishioners and key local and County bodies to generate both further planning, discussion and the implementation of needed improvements.
PG. 4 THE QUESTIONNAIRE Originally, the questionnaire consisted of 32 questions, split into three sections covering Household, Personal and Environmental areas that were felt to be relevant to the Parish and its future development. These questions will be adapted as and when the need arises to keep up with relevance to the Parish and to further improve Communication and Development. Parishioners were asked whether they strongly agreed, agreed, neither disagreed or strongly agrees with a range of topics. These included which facilities provided a good service to the Parish, whether there was an issue with speeding traffic, whether street lighting should be extended or switched off, whether there should be more housing development and whether industrial units should be provided. They were also asked for other useful information with which to collate a more transparent view of the demographics as well as societal conditions and expectations. At that point, over 50% of the questionnaires were returned and the basic information was collated to produce the basis for the action plan being prepared. Currently, we have not had as good a response from our last questionnaire as we had hoped for so we ask all our parishioners to take note of this and please respond to all future questionnaires sent out. Without your responses, we cannot work in your best interests as we will not have a full representation of all your views. Nonetheless, many thanks to everyone who did respond. We appreciate your taking the time to complete the questionnaires. Please find below, the results of the last questionnaire sent out in 2016.
PG. 5 Black Torrington Parish Plan for 2017, following on from 2016 Questionnaire Here are the results from a total return of 56 forms: Part 1 – Household Questions 1-7 Most Parish housing is Owner Occupied. Most homes are occupied long term and, once occupied, residents seem to stay. Only 6 people in total have moved away from the parish. Most residents have been here for over 30 years. A few new residents have moved into the area. There are 8 Registered Disabled, Infirm or Housebound members of the community. There are low numbers of young children in the community. For those with young children, it would be helpful to have a Child Care provider within the community. This could help those with children already here and could encourage other young families to move here.
Questions 8 - 11 91% of residents are willing to pay more than £3.08 per month or more from the Council Tax, if the money is guaranteed to be spent on the village. Most parishioners were in favour of adding and erecting an Air Ambulance landing light at the Playing Field and this has been done. 17 households felt that they may need alternative accommodation in the village but could not be precise as each case depended on a
PG. 6 different set of circumstances. It was also difficult to predict what was needed in the future as some of the predictions would have to be based on current health situations which could and, more than likely, would change. (This question will be changed in future questionnaires.)
Questions on the BT Times – 11-12 All parishioners receiving the BT Times read it regularly. The following suggestions for inclusion in the BT Times were as follows: Small Business Features Local news issues Articles Topical Gardening Letters Page Council Business Nature Conservation Events within 10 Mile Radius Village Committees and their Finances Feedback on what the Parish has done. Suggestions for exclusion in the BT Times were as follows: Political Opinion (We were unable to find this but would welcome feedback on this.) Grammatical Errors Adverts (These are essential as this is how the magazine is funded.)
PG. 7 Church News (This is an essential part of our community and needs to be represented.) Out of Date Postings
Overall, virtually all readers were very pleased with the BT Times and enjoyed reading it. Many rated the BT between 8 and 10 in terms of satisfaction with 10 being the best possible rating and 0 being the lowest. Virtually all readers would be prepared to pay from 50p to £6.00 more for the BT Times, the majority opting for between 50p and a £1.00. 11 Households were willing to contribute articles to the BT Times and some might do so. One person asked to receive the BT Times earlier.
PG. 8 Part 2, Personal Questions 13-15 asked parishioners to answer questions giving their opinions using a scale of 0-10, 0 being terrible and 10 being excellent. Q13 Emergency Services. The Ambulance service is providing parishioners with confidence, most rating it 8-10. Fire service, less confident, rated 7-9. Police, scored low end of the scale, mainly 0-5. Q14 Is Additional Public Transport Vital? Using the 0-10 scale, 26 parishioners thought additional transport necessary. This would be useful to parishioners mainly once a week, destinations preferred included Holsworthy, Okehampton, Hatherleigh, Barnstaple and Exeter. Most households have their own transport. Q15 Local Services Using the 0-10 scale, Black Torrington Primary school, very highly rated, mainly 10s Blake house surgery, very highly rated, mainly 10s Water, Electric and Rubbish collections, highly rated, mainly 8-10 Internet availability, moderate rating, mainly 5-8 Highway maintenance, very poor, mainly 0-5. Q16 Internet use. What do Parishioners use it for? 50% of respondents use the Internet for leisure and communication. 25% for Business Remainder not at all.
PG. 9 Q17 Asks Parishioners about their work. The clear majority do not work or are retired, less than 10 work from home, even less commute.
Part 3, Environment Questions 18 -20 covers the Environment and facilities of the Parish. Using the 0-10 scale parishioners how important it is that: Q18 Small business units are made available in the Parish This received an average response of 5, although some were very keen the same amount thought it a bad idea. Q19 How important is conservation in the local environment? Countryside, Sustainable farming and Wildlife all rated very highly, averaging 9 and 10. Archaeology not so important averaging a score of 5and 6. Q20 How do you rate the current standards of maintenance of the following? Standards of maintenance is considered average or above for the Playing field, Pavements and Footpaths/Bridleways. Dog fouling below average.
PG. 10 Q21 Which local services and local businesses do you use?
Q21 Businesses used by parishioners 80 70 60 50 40 30 20
10 Number parishioners of Number 0
Q22 Asked how important is it that Holsworthy hospital keeps its own patient beds? On a scale from 0-10, 90% of parishioners rated Holsworthy Hospital beds as vital for the community. Q23 What are your main crime and safety concerns?
Q23 Crime and Safety Concerns 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20
10
concerned parishners of Number 0 Anit social Burglary Vandalism Speeding Lack of Noisy behaviour traffic Police neighbours
PG. 11 Q24 Are the Parish places of worship important to you? Q24 How are places of workship important to you? 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Worship Baptism Tourist Historic Landmarks Part of the
attraction building community Uses for the Parish places of worship of places Parish the for Uses
Q25 Do you experience difficulty accessing any of the services?
Q25 Acessing services 16
14
12 10
8
6
4 Number Parshioners of Number 2
0 Chemist Doctor Hospital NHS Private Job centre Opticians dentist dentist
PG. 12 Q26 Asked about uses of the multi-use games area (MUGA). Most parishioners do not use the MUGA. However, it is clearly valuable to the parishioners that do. Uses include football, netball, tennis, children’s games and bicycle riding. Of the present users thought lighting would be useful and that usage would rise.
PG. 13 Conclusion Overall, the returned questionnaires revealed that we are fortunate to have a great community that generally works well. However, there are areas of concern. These include: Highway Maintenance, which is an on-going problem, but thanks must go to Councillor Hackett for the repairs he has recently carried out. Low Police presence continues to reduce Parishioners’ confidence in this service. The additional car parking in the village is still in the pipeline; providing a plan and value for money is proving challenging. Repairs to the War Memorial are being organised as is replacement of the play equipment in the park, which will be overseen by the Playing field committee. The Multi Use Games Area has a new surface and the Helicopter night lights are in use. Public Transport in the village and parish is worryingly low, but returned forms do illustrate that parishioners are largely prepared for this and inconvenience is low. We will be looking to improve Communication between the parishioners and Parish Council via the notice boards, internet, and parish web-site. Also, the B.T times which is popular and increasing its coverage into Sheepwash. Please be aware that to record accurate opinions and ascertain where help and attention is needed, we need as many questionnaires returned as possible to allow the Parish council to be as effective as possible within its remit. Please help us with this as we aim to continue producing a Parish Plan at least once a year, if at all feasible.
Black Torrington Parish Council.
PG. 14